Donna J. SWENSON, Widow of Herman J. Swenson, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Louis W. SULLIVAN, Defendant-Appellee

Donna J. Swenson appeals from the district court’s grant of summary judgment for the Secretary of Health and Human Services upholding a denial of the application of her deceased husband, Herman W. Swenson, for disability insurance benefits for a period from October 16, 1979 to April 13, 1983. Following our remand in 1984, the Secretary determined that Swenson became disabled on April 13, 1983, his 55th birthday. Mrs. Swenson contends that the Secretary erred: (1) by failing to specify reasons for discounting her husband’s testimony that he suffered from disabling fatigue beginning in October 1979, (2) by failing to specify reasons for discounting testimony of Swenson’s treating physician and two examining psychiatrists that he was disabled during the period in dispute, (3) by accepting a vocational expert’s testimony that substantial numbers of jobs existed that Swenson could perform, despite the expert’s further testimony that Swen-son could not perform as many jobs as could a person deemed disabled under the Medical Vocational Guidelines, and (4) by applying the grids mechanically in selecting his 55th birthday as the onset date of his disability despite finding no material…